Lords vote to keep the UK in the Single Market!

The House of Lords has voted to keep the UK inside the EU single market, which will mean the Commons will now have to vote on it.

In a shock development, many peers have defied their party whips and voted with cross-benchers to vote through an amendment to the EU withdrawal bill that will keep the UK inside the European Economic Area, which means effectively it will still be inside the EU single market post Brexit.

This means the amendment will now go to the Commons where MPs will be required to vote on it.

This is going to give the PM a bit of a headache, as Jeremy Corbyn and his Labour Party do not seem to know where they stand on this issue. In fact you can see Corbyn doing an about turn on his 'respect of the referendum result' and using it for short term party political gain by telling his party to vote to stay in the single market in order to bring Theresa May and possibly the whole government down.

Of course the likes of Anna Soubry and Stephen Kinnock are out there champing at the bit to vote it in, with Soubry Tweeting that Parliament is finally taking control and Kinnock saying the Lords has set the PM on the right track.

In the Guardian Kinnock glosses over the EEA membership requirements, but just to remind everyone of what David Cameron said about it back in 2012:

"In Norway they sometimes call it ‘Government by fax’ because you are simply taking the instructions about every rule in the single market from Brussels without any say on what those rules are."

"The EEA gives it access to the EU's internal market and its “four freedoms”: freedom of movement for goods, services, people and capital. But this comes at a price. The Norwegians are obliged to accept every single piece of internal-market legislation, and they have no vote on these laws."

Membership of the EEA is not taking back control, nor is it on the right track. This is purely about establishment Remainers doing their utmost to keep the UK under the rule of Brussels.

This is the route to a major constitutional crisis, where the demonstrated will of the majority of the electorate is being completely ignored.

"The UK will provide £100 million in finance for construction of the fourth phase of the Dubai World Trade Centre as part of a new drive to boost UK exports." It reports.

With some hailing this as a post-Brexit trade coup, Liam Fox said:

"The UK’s reputation for high-quality manufacturing and highly-skilled construction is renowned the world over. This government, through UK Export Finance, is taking a proactive approach to bringing business to the UK, with wide-reaching benefits for both individual UK businesses and the UK export economy as a whole."

Now I do get a few comments from gloating Remainers that Liam Fox's trade department is having its budget cut and will be forced to get rid of loads of trade negotiators leaving Brexit in a bit of a pickle.

But the FT reports that his department is to get an emergency cash injection of up to £10 million to safeguard those jobs. So, mistake rectified, it seems.

Many of us had realised a long time ago that apart from those supporting Brexit on the grounds of sovereignty, in general, Remainers are pessimistic about the UK's prospects outside the EU and Leavers are optimistic.

So it's good to see the Chairman of Lloyds Banking Group, Lord Blackwell, saying just that.

Writing in the FT, Lord Blackwell says that the real divide is not between former Leave voters and Remain voters but between those who are now optimistic about leaving the EU and those who are pessimistic.

I have to say that in my experience the pessimism and optimism divide is still across the Remain and Leave divide. Personally I wonder if Remainers would be happy and optimistic even if we had voted to remain!

Anyway, Lord Blackwell said that the trouble with this pessimism is, that it is in itself a potential source of damage to our economic confidence.

"It is time we all embraced a realistic but positive stance on long-term opportunities." He says, and also points out that the UK has 'enduring strengths that means it can prosper as a trading nation under any scenario'.

"Europe’s structural weaknesses mean it is likely to remain one of the slowest growing regions, rapidly overtaken by the dynamism of the economic powerhouses in Asia and other emerging nations." He writes.

Now to EU propaganda.

The EU has splashed the cash says the Sun by launching an £8 million propaganda push amongst young EU citizens to show "how the EU gives every person the power to do what they love".

"The money has been used to produce five arty videos which will be shown at cinemas across Europe this summer. They are aimed at people aged 17-34 and will also be trailed across the EU’s social media accounts from today." Says the 'paper.

Let's give this a moment's thought.

The EU is not a political party, it is a complete political system. It is made up of politicians and EU civil servants from across the whole of the European Union.

It has no political mandate of its own, no manifesto, it is supposedly driven by those elected to office on a national and EU basis.

Can you imagine the UK doing something this?

You know. Films about the 'UK Administration delivering for the nation' maybe? It would be met with howls of derision.

I can understand public information films on items of safety etc, but sales videos?

No, this EU push is purely a sales pitch to get people to love the EU.

But what they don't seem to realise is that no amount of these type of videos will ever paper over the cracks made by overbearing bureaucratic control and policies.

Now into orbit.

Not many days now go by without some reference to the EU wanting to kick the UK off of the Galileo satellite programme because, they say, they cannot trust the UK.

Like the fishing grounds, this spat for me seems to encapsulate the whole UK/EU relationship.

You see, the EU needs our expertise and our money and our ground bases in the Falklands, Ascension Island and Diego Garcia in order for it to operate as a global military capable system.

But they do not want us otherwise involved.

Now, while the EU wants to block UK involvement in the programme, it still needs UK technology companies to give Brussels sensitive information.

The UK had initially said that defence and security would not be a bargaining chip, but now that we are learning how the EU wishes to take our so-called relationship forward, the roll over, bend over and take it attitude our negotiators seem to have been content to suffer so far, may be changing.

One Whitehall source told the Times:

"There is concern about what this means for the future of our security partnership. The government said we were not going to make it a bargaining chip but the commission turning round and branding the UK a security threat has left us with concerns about what that means."

Personally I'm in absolutely no doubt at all what that means! The EU wants our troops, equipment, expertise, money and commitment while giving nothing in return!

And finally an important update. Some people do give me a bit of a hard time for using the Remainer hi-jacked term 'Brexit' when referring to the total and unequivocal withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union. But the acronym for that would be hideously long and unpronounceable.

I have therefore given it a great deal of thought and amended it slightly to the following:

the "Full Withdrawal of the UK from the EU"

which is, of course, understandably shortened to:

"F.W.U.K.E.U."

Now, one wonders if that one will catch on and replace the word Brexit on all our mainstream media outlets such as the BBC, the Independent and the Guardian etc – I could see the Sun running with it maybe ….

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